Resume
Summary
I am an entrepreneur who served over a decade in uniform, both enlisted and officer, currently focused on using my 20+ years military, entrepreneurship and board experiences to navigate business owners sell and retire. Previously, I ran for the state legislature (and lost), and prior to this self-taught myself Ruby on Rails and built operationcode.org to petition Congress to expand the New GI Bill to include code schools.
I earned an B.A. in Political Science and Officer Commission in Infantry from Army ROTC at Oregon State University, and originally from a small farming town just 60 miles north of Seattle called Mount Vernon. At any time, you can follow my life’s journey over on social media.
Experience
President/ Owner
Molinas Construction Company - Portland, Oregon, Mar 2015 to present
I founded a federal contracting company supporting U.S. federal agencies out of my garage. Today, we’ve scaled to a small but dedicated remote/ decentralized team, and specialized supply partners tackling some of our clients greatest infrastructure challenges helping diversify the trades with more veterans, women, Latina/os, immigrants and young people. When I’m not enroute to a site visit, participating in pre-construction or bid meetings, estimating using Bluebeam, on the phone or visiting subcontractors in the field, I’m head down building out our processes and systems to go further, faster.
Learn more about Molinas Construction Company here.
Founder & Executive Director
Operation Code - Portland, Oregon, Aug 2014 to April 2018
After a decade in uniform as an enlisted soldier & officer, I was disappointed I couldn’t use my New GI Bill to pay for tuition, room and board to learn to code at the Flatiron School. At the time zero code schools across the country accepted the GI Bill due to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs bureaucratic red tape. Undeterred I began attending Ruby on Rails meetups in Baltimore while still on active-duty, RailsConf, Calagator, and several Ruby meetups once back in Portland. After learning enough, I wrote and deployed the first line of code of operationcode.org to petition Congress to expand the GI Bill to include code schools. This little website took off like a rocket as I discovered thousands of veterans who were in the same boat, as well as code schools who needed help navigating the regulatory hurdles.
The entire team operates in a remote, decentralized operating environment using Slack as our central nerve center. During my tenure, when not on Slack I spent the majority of my time coordinating national efforts with the board of directors, tweeting, recruiting & retaining the best & brightest software engineers at tech conferences to become mentors, lobbying Congress, ensuring there was enough money in the bank, judging hackathons, and speaking at forums and events on the need to invest in our nation’s finest to fill the nation’s technical talent shortage.
After over 30 code schools across 20 states accepting the GI Bill, service members receiving software mentorship in our Slack channel, secured $75 million funding over five-years to help veterans learn software development through the VET TEC Act, and chapter leaders hosting hundreds of meetups globally across 19-time zones creating talent pipelines impacting communities around the globe I stepped down to allow new leadership to take the organization to the next level.
Learn more about Operation Code at the Podcast, GitHub, and/or donate to build ongoing staff capacity.
Co-Founder & CTO
BilingualHire - Portland, Oregon, Apr 2014 to Sep 2018
Tired of waiting for a co-founder to build out the product, I enrolled in One Month Rails on Skillshare and learned the basics of Ruby on Rails. In 2014, I took another stab after some Thinkful front end course work and flushed out our minimal viable product (MVP), a bilingual job posting service allowing anyone to post a bilingual job opportunity.
In early 2016, rubyist and friend, Chris Hough joined as our first Ruby on Rails engineer to integrate this feedback and re-launch the web application on May 30, 2016. Stopped working on it a few months after the founding team was unable to secure seed funding to continue to build out the product and get market traction, and focused my attention on another startup that gained quick traction.
BilingualHire is now hosted under ThinkMujer, an Latina-owned education consultancy.
Plans, Training & Operations Officer (S-2/3 OIC), Public Affairs & Protocol Officer
Joint Personal Effects Depot - Dover AFB, Delaware, Feb 2011 to Feb 2013
Mobilized as a 1st Lieutenant and promoted to Captain upon arrival in a unique war-time, joint assignment comprised of active, reserve, guard, DoD civilians, GS-employees and every branch of the services represented. I served in a key executive staff role to support the transition of the Joint Personal Effects Depot transition from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. As the S-2/3 OIC, I was the action officer on the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony that hosted hundreds of VIP, senior military and Pentagon officials and point on public affairs and protocol.
During 24 months on active-duty in a battalion staff role, I authored Standard Operating Procedures for new Dover AFB processes, established public affairs/protocol procedures coordinating all unit visits in conjunction with Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations (AFMAO)/Armed Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES) and Wing, including flag officers and Members of Congress. In this role, I served as the Army Liaison to the Secretary of the Army and Sergeant Major of the Army during President Obama’s visit to Dover in August 2011.
On the public affairs front, I launched our intranet website–SharePoint, to better coordinate cross departmental efforts, and trained department personnel on HTML and page maintenance. Externally, I launched the command’s external website, a top-level domain at www.jped.mil using DotNetNuke, a CMS-platform.
I was honored and humbled to work alongside two of the finest Noncommissioned Officers, Sgt. First Class Dana Waite (S-2 NCOIC), and Sgt. First Class Chester Craig (S-3 NCOIC), and great mentors in Commissioned Officers Lt. Col. Kelly Kyburz (Commander), and Lt. Col. Harvey Baker (Executive Officer), and some of the most caring souls dedicated to preserving the lasting memories of those who gave the ultimate and our wounded service members.
Interested in supporting the Families of the Fallen mission? USO Delaware has you covered.
Co-Founder & Business Development
NestNote - New York City (remote), Jul 2012 to Oct 2012
I worked with co-founder & software engineer, Vitaliy Dikker, who I met at AngelHack Hackathon Summer 2012 on social note taking app, NestNote, which aimed to help users on Twitter capture reminders, to-do’s, notes, and store them privately for later viewing. Organic to Twitter, NestNote converted hashtags into “digital files” and tweets into reminders and notes. Users could use NestNote to create reminders and notes by simply adding a #hashtag (filename) and the user-handle @nestnote to the tweet and NestNote did the rest. Example: #books Read Good to Great @nestnote.
In this role, I wrote press releases and wrote copy, pitched bloggers and influencers to try out NestNote. Unfortunately, NestNote didn’t get the traction we expected, but I got hooked on building a startup and began my transition to learn to code, apply to code school, and exit active-duty.
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
BilingualHire Staffing Services - Portland, Oregon, June 2009 to Feb 2011
After returning from an 18-month active-duty mission at Aberdeen Proving Ground and a very short stint at the Oregon legislature I relaunched our bilingual recruiting and consulting company into a bilingual (Spanish/ English) staffing business and landed a few clients placing bilingual talent for temporary admin roles. During this period, I served on the Oregon Staffing Association Board of Directors as Legislative Director, maintained an e-newsletter, and interviewed dozens for our BilingualHire podcast using iPhone voice memos and hosting them on Posterous (since acquired by Twitter). We put the company on hiatus during our mobilization to Dover AFB, but learned a ton about flexible workforce development.
Committee Administrator
House Committee on Veterans & Emergency Services - Salem, Oregon, Jan 2009 to June 2009
Fresh off active-duty, I spent 6 months staffing the House Committee on Veterans & Emergency in the Oregon legislature. During my tenure, I managed Representative Jean Cowan and Committee Members veterans & emergency services legislative priorities with precision and drive. I learned how legislation becomes law and treasure the great mentorship by the Chair, Rep. Jean Cowan and her Chief of Staff, Patrick Sieng, as well as my Committee Services mentor, Patrick Brennan. My favorite memory was working on the WWII Memorial Highway legislation with Medal of Honor Bob Maxwell and retired Lt. Col Dick Tobiason of Bend, Oregon, and the many veterans organizations across the state doing amazing work. During this period I met a great mentor in Navy veteran Tony Ornelas who served on the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Council, and Tom Mann in the agency’s public affairs.
Committee managers, Rick & Patty, took a chance on a young Army lieutenant w/ this very cool job at the state’s capitol and through the process helped him become a better writer and understand how ideas become law.
Highlight: meeting other fellow veterans serving as legislators and continuing their service to country. Would inspire me years later.
Summary Court Martial Officer
Joint Personal Effects Depot - Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, Mar 2007 to July 2008
Mobilized and served 18 months active-duty in support of a unique joint organization responsible for the collection, inventory and return of the personal effects of Fallen Services Members and Wounded Service Members. Upon arrival from Fort Riley, Kansas we were assigned to stand up the night shift (4pm - midnight) and responsible for a 8-person team comprised of military and DoD contractors. During the latter half of my tour, I transferred over to staff and was tasked to co-author the Department of Defense Center for Army Lessons Learned Joint Personal Effects Depot (JPED) Handbook. After this extensive writing assignment, I continued to author dozens of operational improvement memos, authored and revised Standard Operating Procedures, and was assigned assistant billing official with additional coursework at the Pentagon. Prior to departing I created performance measures and cross training certifications for improved readiness. The assignment was forever humbling and life changing and would’ve never thought I would be called upon by the incoming Commander to join the unit again a few years later.
Aide-de-Camp to Army Brigadier General
104th Division - Vancouver Barracks, Washington, Jul 2005 to Dec 2006
As a fresh Army 2nd Lieutenant I was selected as an Aide-de-Camp for Army Brigadier General Eldon Regua, Assistant Division Commander-Operations, the number two (2) in the entire division, and helped the General fulfill his duties at a 36,000 foot view.
In this role, I traveled extensively with General Regua coordinating all transportation and lodging, coordinate protocol, schedule meetings and visits, helped draft and provide editorial support on speeches, and worked closely with the Secretary of the General Staff, Maj. Ignacio Perez. Sometimes I would Aide-de-Camp for the Commanding General, Maj. Gen. TK Moffett with travels throughout the western United States and downrange where unit Drill Sergeants were mobilized including Ft. Knox, Kentucky. It meant not just protecting his time, but make his time on the ground count by helping get soldiers promoted, soldier issues resolved, and one-one-time with senior staff.
Left assignment due to pending mobilization.
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
RED Consulting Group, LLP - Beaverton, Oregon, Nov 2004 to Dec 2006
At the age of 25, I joined fellow Oregon State University alumni, Rosa Olivares & Edith Quiroz, to launch a bilingual (Spanish/ English) consultancy and recruiting company despite being told we were too young. We started off bootstrapping out of Rosa’s Beaverton apartment living room, and after a year expanded into a professional small office off a busy SW Murray intersection. During this time, we led over a dozen executive bilingual searches throughout Portland-metro for higher education, clinics, and the private sector helping accelerate the careers of over a dozen bilingual professionals into well paying jobs with benefits. Additionally, we conducted Latino cultural competency trainings throughout the state helping usher in new programs & services designed to increase & retain Latina/o staff and student enrollment.
We closed the business in early 2007 as a result of an impending military deployment. In early 2007, Oregon State University wrote an article, “Edith Molina in her own words” that touched on our consulting work. Prior to departing we changed the name to BilingualHire, and Edith still continues to do this work under the ThinkMujer brand.
Director of Fund Development & Special Projects
SMG Foundation - Portland, Oregon, Mar 2004 to Nov 2004
Served as the first Director of Fund Development & Special Projects for the Susannah Maria Gurule (SMG) Foundation, a Latino serving community-based organization dedicated towards reducing health disparities by educating families and children, empowering young Latina women and breast-cancer preventative awareness.
During my short tenure, I coordinated the three (3) day Salud Familiar Latina/o Family Health Fair & Conference at the University of Portland, the one (1) day Latinos & Diabetes Seminar for Primary Care Providers at the World Forestry Center, and won a $10K grant from the Lowe’s Charitable & Educational Foundation for organizational facility improvements. I was also a member of the Willamette Valley Development Officers, a nonprofit dedicated to training area development officers. I worked under the guidance and mentorship of Executive Director, Marie Dahlstrom, and founder/board chair, Clara Padilla-Andrews, a former New Mexico Secretary of State.
I was really bummed to leave this position to become co-founder at RED Consulting Group and lead bilingual executive searches, but it certainly prepared me for anything and I credit the incredible mentorship and watching two of the most humble, forthright and fierce Latina leaders anywhere in Portland at the time.
Guest Writer
El Hispanic News y Más - Portland, Oregon, Oct 2003 to Mar 2004
After a 6-month international internship in Costa Rica I returned to the states determined to write and own a newspaper. I reached out to this historic Hispanic publication, and owner Clara Padilla-Andrews, and editor-in-chief, Julie Cortez gave me an opportunity to learn the trade. I wrote just a few articles in-between finishing up my B.A. in political science, including:
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Los Angeles, California: Dec 17, 2003, “Series of Spanish Rock Concerts Raises Scholarships for Hispanics.”
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Woodburn, Oregon: Oct 29, 2003, “Latino Educational and Recreational Network Receives High Award.”
Highlight: representing El Hispanic News y Mas in Los Angeles, California at a concert where Maldita Vecindad, Molotov, and Gran Silencio played live.
Journalism Intern
Institute for Central American Studies - San Jose, Costa Rica, July 2003 to Oct 2003
Accepted to an international internship (IE3) in San Jose, Costa Rica, I researched, drafted and published articles for the Institute for Central American Studies (ICAS) monthly journal, Mesoamerica, that focused on the realities of Central America and understanding of the region.
I cut my teeth here writing/ editing copy and credit the Executive Director, Linda Holland, for her persistence and helping me improve my writing. In 2014, ICAS was renamed to the Institute for Central American Development Studies. During my time in-country, I joined the Club de Montañismo at La Universidad de Costa Rica and trekked a ton on weekends to places that were not on tourist maps. I also improved my Spanish during this time, and along with other ICAS interns got to explore the city and its people, and the countryside.
Tips for college students? Get on an international internship and learn more about the world and how folks live and work.
Cadet
104th Division - Salem, Oregon, July 2002 to June 2005
I was recruited to join this drill sergeant reserve unit based in Salem by the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Dan York. I ended up coming on board and became the Company Executive Officer under the guidance of the company commander, Capt. John Mills. I grew tremendously here and thoroughly enjoyed my time here, and did a lot of marching w/ a small rucksack through City of Salem hills w/ enlisted mentor and S-1 AGR Staff Sgt. George Everts.
Favorite experience: hiking Dog Mountain with the drill sergeants.
Soldier
364th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne)- Portland, Oregon, Feb 2001 to July 2002 After graduating Army bootcamp at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, I started my enlisted career as a Private First Class (PFC) in the Special Functions Team here for drill-weekends, and mentored by Lt. Col Jon Lopey and Maj. Javier Valdez. These two officers set the tone and tempo and I’m incredibly grateful for their mentorship during my transition from PFC to cadet.
In this role, helped conduct HUMVEE drivers tests, support PT tests, and drive personnel up to Ft. Lewis for missions abroad.
Education
Stanford University Graduate School of Business
Executive Education - Remote, 2021 Along with 75+ U.S. Latino entrepreneurs, CEOs, owners and managing partners participated remotely in Cohort 11 of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative Education, Scaling Program, a collaboration between 501c(3) nonprofit Latino Business Action Network (LBAN) and Stanford University Graduate School of Business focused on growing the American economy and empower Latino entrepreneurs through research, education, and empowerment.
Highlight: if U.S. Latinos were a country, based on gross domestic product (GDP) we’d be the 7th largest country on earth.
Thinkful
Front End Web Development, 2014 Between Southeast Portland Grind coffee and NedSpace, Portland’s original co-working I spent the first few months of 2014 learning HTML, CSS, JavaScript and APIs. My projects included, making a clone of Google’s landing page, Street Fighter the game, shopping list, and my resume from scratch.
Leveraged the skills learned at Skillshare, Ruby meetups, RailsConf, Ruby on Ales, Calagator, and Thinkful to launch operationcode.org, and when it took off paused coursework.
At some point I plan to return to code school using my New GI Bill. Know a good one?
U.S. Army School of Infantry
Infantry Officer Basic Course - Fort Benning, Georgia, 2005
Along w/ freshly minted Lieutenant’s from across the United States and abroad (Egypt, Senegal, Lebanon, etc) I spent summer 2005 living half the time in the Georgia woods planning, rehearsing and executing military training operations and the other half in garrison refining our OPORD writing skills.
Every morning we’d run 5ks to, “When my granny was 91” and “C-130 Rolling Down the Strip.”
Favorite time: grappling and practicing hand to hand combat, meeting lieutenant’s from around the world, attending Mass at the base Catholic Church, and breaking bread with military officers from across Latin America on weekends.
Oregon State University
B.A., Political Science - Corvallis, Oregon, 2001 to 2004
Activities and Societies: ASOSU (Student Government), Army ROTC, Sigma Nu Fraternity, Kalmekak and MEChA
During Army bootcamp I applied and was accepted for the 2000-2001 academic year and after basic headed off to Corvallis to start spring 2001. I fell in love with, “the study of who gets what, when and how,” and after a semester chose political science as my major. After the attack of 9/11, I contracted as an MS III cadet replacing my Private First Class (PFC) rank with Cadet rank and began one of the most rewarding journey’s to be a Commissioned Officer.
Becoming the first in the family–the son of Mexican immigrants–to graduate from an American university was a very proud moment. Equally momentous was having alongside immediate family, my great grandfather, Eusebio Lopez, from Nayarit, Mexico and little brother, Victor, who had just returned from deployment in Iraq in attendance.
Favorite time: bid to bring the National MEChA Conference for the first time to the pacific northwest.
Skagit Valley College
AA - Mount Vernon, WA, 1997 to 2000
Activities and Societies: MEChA
I started at Skagit Valley College via the Running Start program where I took college coursework counting towards both high school and college credits. I founded the MEChA chapter here, and brainchild the Gente del Sol festival and co-organized it for two-years to raise funds for Chicana/o student scholarships. Diana Lopez, Smiley Lopez, and myself brainstormed the concept during a road trip to the National MEChA Conference hosted at UCLA. The one-day festival brought together over 3,000 people, awarded 75 trophies and raised over $10,000 for Latino student scholarships. The event made it into Lowrider Magazine. At SVC, I put myself through working at the Burlington Red Robin flipping burgers and credit greatly Jovita Angelica Guillen for inspiring this former migrant farmworker to head beyond the Skagit Valley horizon and see what else is out there.
Favorite time: holding the college accountable to preserve and protect the college radio station from outside encroachment.
Mount Vernon High School
Activities and Societies: Migrant Student Leadership Program (SLP), MEChA, National Youth Leadership Forum on Law & the Constitution
Diploma - Mount Vernon, WA, 1994 to 1997
I started off strong, but dropped out my sophomore year. Fed up with memorizations and pointless classes I started working at Olympic Fish Company (LaConner) gutting and weighing fish, and forklifting through the season into the spring before returning and finishing a year late. During the summers I worked for J&H Construction & Sakuma Brothers Farms. I credit Ms. Dianne Best, Dr. Ken Fox, Mrs. Maria Perez, and Mr. Daniel Reyes for squaring me away and pointing me in the right direction, in the direction of leadership.
Favorite class: Mr. Sedgwick’s HTML/ web design course.
Skills
I enjoy working on hard problems, building teams, advising startups, and automating data to do more faster. I wrote this in markdown using Atom, blog using Jekyll, push code up using iTerm2, hosted at Netlify, and leverage AWS to host images/ files. Previously, I was learning Ruby on Rails, Ember, Gatsby, but work/ volunteering has consumed my schedule. Prior to falling in love with building from scratch I used WordPress, SharePoint, and DotNetNuke.
Volunteer Experiences and Causes
Board of Directors
OSU Alumni Association Board of Directors - Corvallis, Oregon, Sep 2021 to May 2024
The OSU Alumni Association is a non-profit 501c3 organization that is led by a board of directors. This volunteer board upholds the alumni association’s mission to inspire a lifelong connection for alumni, students and friends through learning, advocacy and community. Their goals are to deepen, broaden and improve the engagement with students and recent alumni as well as communicate the impact of alumni and of OSU on the world.
In addition to upholding the OSU Alumni Association’s mission and goals, the board of directors are passionate about providing opportunities for alumni, students and OSU supports to get involved. From annual service projects to regular volunteer efforts, the board of directors and alumni association organize events and positions to ensure OSU continues to make a positive impact on students and alum as well as the world.
Interested in getting connected? Tag or send me a message on OSU Connections.
Board of Trustees
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) Board of Trustees - Portland, Oregon, Jan 2022 to Nov 2022
Founded in 1944, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is one of the nation’s leading science museums and a trusted educational resource for communities throughout Oregon and the region. Through museum exhibitions, public programs at the museum and across the region, outdoor programs, traveling exhibitions, digital learning, and learning research and design, OMSI nourishes a lifelong love of science, curiosity and learning for diverse audiences. OMSI’s mission is to inspire curiosity through engaging science learning experiences, foster experimentation and the exchange of ideas, and stimulate informed action.
I serve on the Property Development Committee. More about the committee’s work, here OMSI District: Plans call for 3 million square feet of buildings in Portland east of the Willamette.
Board of Directors
LatinoBuilt - Beaverton, Oregon, June 2020 to June 2022
LatinoBuilt (LB) is a trade association for Latino Contractors in Oregon founded in 2019. A 501c(6) nonprofit whose primary purpose is to support and empower Latino-owned businesses in construction. LB works with partners within the community to address the current inequities and connects contractors to public works project opportunities.
Served on the executive board as Vice President and LatinoBuilt Foundation where we focused on the fundraising arm.
Follow LatinoBuilt on Instagram and join the conversation in building generational wealth in the Latina/o community.
Co-Organizer
Ruby on Rails PDX - Portland, Oregon, Feb 2016 to May 2016
Co-organizer with two other rubyist, Chris Hough and Layne McNish, bringing together developers and expose new folks to the rails application framework together in a comfortable, relaxed setting.
Took a hiatus to build and scale operationcode.org.
Co-Organizer
Dover Coders - Dover, Delaware, May 2012 to Feb 2013
Created and co-organized a Dover Coders meetup group with another JPED co-worker, Lawrence Wehle, a contracted software engineer while I was deployed to Dover AFB. We had over a dozen meetups, and it was rewarding meeting local experienced programmers and learning from Lawrence himself. Quiet but profoundly smart and the IT backbone at JPED.
Stepped down when I exited Dover AFB back to Portland, Oregon.
Advisor
Oregon Community Foundation, Latino Partnership Program - Sep 2013 to Sep 2017
Appointed by CEO Max Williams to advisory board focused on addressing Latino leadership throughout Oregon through a philanthropic lens. Reviewed nonprofit grant submissions, provide input on investments, and worked alongside Latino Partnership Program, Program Officer, on ways to areas of improvement.
Took a hiatus to build and scale operationcode.org.
Advisor
OSU President’s Board of Visitors for Community and Inclusion - Apr 2009 to Oct 2010
Appointed by President Dr. Edward Ray to 22-person Board of Visitors to provide advice and recommendations for diversity recruitment and the retention of faculty, staff, and students.
Resigned to focus on family and helping raise three little girls, two of which were newborn twins.
Commissioner/Vice Chair
Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs - Apr 2006 to Oct 2010
Governor-appointed to the commission, and in-between an active-duty mobilization, organized and co-hosted a community town hall on civil rights with Attorney General John Kroger, organized and co-hosted a community town hall on labor & employment rights with Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, organized and hosted a community town hall on healthcare with distinguished public health advocates and agencies, testified before Senate Health Care Committee on Latino health disparities, blogged and conducted numerous interviews on Spanish-language media, including: Univision, AlegreTV, LaGranD, LaPantera, and Tonalli Radio.
Highlight: in my final year as commissioner, helped recruit over a dozen Oregon Latino students to attend the 2010 U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI) in Chicago.
Resigned to focus on family and helping raise three little girls, two of which were newborn twins.
Founder/Board President
Oregon State University Chicano/Latino Alumni Association - Corvallis, Oregon Apr 2006 to Oct 2010
Founded the OSU Chicana/o Alumni Association of Oregon State University (ChAOSU), formed first board of directors, raised funds and awarded annual book scholarships, organized and host annual campus reunions, launch an endowment scholarship fund for future generations, keynote at Si Se Pudo graduation, launch official OSU alumni page, and Facebook page.
Favorite time: attending OSU Chicano/Latino graduation ceremonies to meet new alumni and learn about their next move.
Resigned to focus on family and helping raise three little girls, two of which were newborn twins.
Recommendations
Military
“During my tenure with David I had the distinct pleasure of working with a true professional. David Molina is an excellent detailed planner and manager who has exceptional leadership qualities and skills. He is a motivated self starter who needs little or no guidance to accomplish any assigned tasks. In addition, he is exceptionally gifted when dealing with senior leadership on matters of management and orchestration of business process and flow. I would without reservation have David as a part of any team I am associated with. He is a genuine asset to add to any environment seeking a professional to enhance a management team.” –Chief Warrant Officer 3 (Ret.) William Couch, Associate, McCoy Solutions, LLC
“He is an exceptional person with an untiring attitude. He has a can-do attitude and spends as much time on a project as needed and goes back to recheck to make sure every problem and or situation is solved. He is very thorough and has an unending attention-to-detail attitude.” –Staff Sgt. (Ret.) Louis Hess
“1st class all the way is what comes to mind when I think of David Molina. A solid leader who has an intense passion for seeing others succeed. I had the privilege of meeting David while he served in the Army while he worked with Army Soldiers and Marines to make sure operations were top notch. David is a master networker and will carry that over into whatever he does.” –Marine Veteran Daryl Hill, Field Underwriter at NAA Life
“Worked with many Officers in the past, but David Molina is a leader that has what it takes to lead the troops. Great leader, firm but fair.” –Marine Gunnery Sgt. EJ Alvarez, USMC
BilingualHire
“I worked with David while he was at Oregon State University and he was professional, warm and highly motivated. After David left OSU I was able to get him back as the keynote speaker for the OSU Convocation ceremony. Simply put he was outstanding. He was engaging, held the audience and his speech was organised and well thought out. The students heard him and he lit a fire under them. It is my honor to write this recommendation.” –Edie Blakley, Director of Career Services at Clark College
“Mr. Molina is a detail-oriented bilingual [English + Spanish] recruiter. His extensive knowledge and understanding of the Latina/o community is an invaluable asset as a service provider. His strengths as a strategic thinker allows him to meet client deadlines and deliver on-time and with high caliber results. We’ve hired him multiple times and he’s met our unique and challenging demands each and every time. He’s got an excellent track record with Linfield College - Portland Campus and we’ll continue to seek his services when the need arises. I highly recommend Mr. Molina to business/organizations seeking advise and support in diversifying their focus.” –Gerardo Ochoa, Administrator, Higher Education Professional Focused on Diversity and Finance
“David did a great job in promoting our annual Oregon Association of Latino Administrators conference when I was president of the Association. David worked diligently and was very thorough in his work.” –Gustavo Balderas, D.Ed., Past President, Oregon Association of Latino Administrators
“David is a visionary leader. He considers issues from a range of perspectives and brings thoughtfulness to his consultation. Additionally, David is very professional, organized and detailed in the work he produces. I highly recommend David. His work is high quality and targets the unique needs of your organization.” –Dr. Larry Roper, Professor, School of Language Culture and Society at Oregon State University
“Mr. David Molina is a proven leader and makes sound decisions. He leads by example and is motivated to help all team members succeed. While working with David, he presents himself in a positive manner and is focused on the objectives to complete. He is thorough and ensures that he provides top-notch services to whomever he is servicing. I highly recommend David!” –Terry C., Federal Contractor
“David exemplifies the passion, dedication and hard-work required to be a successful entrepreneur. I’ve known David since our college days where we worked together in different organizations serving as role-models to our Latino youth. The youth loved David because they could feel his energy and from-the-heart approach. It’s exciting to see that David has now focused this energy on BilingualHire where skies the limit!” –James Franco, Principal, Sabio One Technology
“I have had a relationship with David for the past 3-4 years in various capacities including his work with BilingualHire Company, OR Commission on Hispanic Affairs and SMG Foundation. In all instances he has proven to be extermely reponsive, positive, entrepreneurial with strong values and integrity. I am hoping to identify ways to partner with him both professionally and personally.” –Jeffrey Hattori, CEO at Nikkei Concerns
“David and his wife are special people with special talents. They both have the drive and energy to make a difference for individuals, groups and organizations. We are fortunate to have their commitment to live and work in Oregon.” –Mr. Jay C. Bloom, CEO at Bloom Anew
“No one knows the nature of his market that he serves better than David Molina. He is the perfect guide between the two cultures that he is charged himself with introducing.” –Jason Hitzert, Legislative Aide at State of Oregon
“David has a passion for finding the right talent for the right company. He is committed to empowering people and enriching the world around him. With Bilingual Hire he is combining his talent for recruiting and his love for the culture that is emerging as a key to the world economy. His clear vision for his company and his value for design has made him a great client.” –David Stewart, Creative Director at Postano
Commissioner
“David Molina is a knowledgeable entrepreneur and well respected political leader with military experience to drive key veteran issues. Molina’s work on the Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs has touched the lives of so many of our underserved Latino communities by creating focal points between our state government and the community. His interviews on Spanish-language radio and TV are helping shape, educate and empower the community to come forth and help shape public discourse. The lives of Portland-metro area Latino residents, through his forums and his community activism, benefit from his self-less service to the Hispanic Commission and additional boards he serves on. Without reservation, I highly recommend Molina to any organization looking to understand our Latino community.” –Emilio Canas, OSC ITDM App Engineer at Intel Corporation
“David organized a Hispanic Healthcare Forum that explored health care reform in the context of the Latino community. I was one of the speakers. It was well organized and well attended. The forum was a success.” –Peter Mahr, Staff Physician at Portland State University
“David is an excellent Commissioner on the Commission on Hispanic Affairs and I am familiar with his work and with his concern for his community and all communities of Color. He cares for all Oregonians but especially those who have not had the privilege of enjoying the full benefits of living in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. He is a defender of the rights of all people and works to end discrimination of all types. I am proud to endorse this outstanding man and his community and life’s work.” –Everette L. Rice, Former Commissioner, Oregon Commission on Black Affairs
“David is a strong and compassionate person. He is a person of great intergrity and is an outstanding community leader. I am honored to know him through the years.” –David Kong, Former Commissioner, Oregon Commission on Asian Affairs
Alumni Association
“David is currently President of the OSU Alumni Association’s Chicano/a Latino/a Alumni Group. David was the driving force behind the creation of our first cultural affinity group. He spent endless hours contacting other OSU graduates in an effort to bring the group to realization. Due to David’s efforts, the group now has a committed group of officers and members. The Chicano/a Latino/a Alumni Group now coordinates a calendar of yearly activities as well. In addition, David has been instrumental in developing an endowment to support the group’s newly created Dr. Manuel Pacheco scholarship. To accomplish this, David met with staff at the OSU Foundation to determine appropriate scholarship award amounts, applicant criteria and an endowment goal that would perpetually support the yearly awards. However, David did not stop there. He personally approached alumni, faculty, staff, community members and businesses to donate the monies needed to establish the endowment. Oregon State values the tremendous amount of drive and effort that David gives our university. He is a goal and task oriented individual. He consistently proves that when he has a goal, he will find a means to accomplish it in a very timely and effective manner.” –Mealoha McFadden, Event Coordinator, Oregon State University Events
“David possesses the unique combination of skills that make him a natural leader. He is passionate, articulate, committed, and capable. Through his work with the CLAA, he has honed his skills in managing volunteer boards, fundraising, networking, and building partnerships. I recommend David for any position that calls for a caring leader who maximizes his own strengths and surrounds himself with people who complete his abilities.” –Karen Shaw, Associate Vice President for University Advancement at Central Washington University
Legislative/Policy
“Diligence, diplomacy, and details. Mr. Molina immediately showed himself to be a true professional. His actions backed it up; always timely, and followed through while juggling a myriad of bills, committee members, and still took the time to be friendly, courteous, accessible and extremely helpful in navigating the legislative waters. Thank you, David.” –Nicholina Terzieff, President at Leading Edge Public Affairs
“Had the opportunity to work with David to advance a much needed change to vets housing grant policy. He did an excellent job of advocating for veterans while maintaining impartiality as a Committee Administrator. A solid professional and a solid guy all around.” –Ree Armitage, Aide to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
“David was such a pleasure to work with as the committee administrator for the House Committee on Veterans & Emergency Services. His pleasant attitude and great follow through made our interaction such a positive experience!” –Jana Jarvis, President at Paladin Public Affairs, Inc.
“I had the opportunity to work with David on preparing and presenting testimony before the House Committee on Veterans and Emergency Services. I found David to be extremely professional and organized. It was a pleasure working with him on this project.” –Ritu Sahni, EMS Physician and Emergency Physician
“David is a highly skilled communicator who can work successfully under difficult conditions with a wide range of people and personalities.” –Betty Komp, State Representative at State of Oregon
“David is a passionate advocate for veterans’. Although we worked together for a brief period, I truly believe David is a smart, resourceful, and earnest professional. I believe that the Governor’s Veterans’ package was improved through David’s efforts. He played an important role in helping us navigate the waters of the legislative process and thousands of veterans’ will have a fundamentally better life because of his work. He is a good man that tries to make a difference every day.” –Paul Evans, Representative-Elect, Oregon House of Representatives (District 20) at State of Oregon
“I was impressed by David Molina’s work as a Committee Administrator to the Legislature. He is intelligent and energetic, sought a range of viewpoints and was accessible to discuss the status of committee bills. He also had first hand knowledge about many of the topics that he worked on.” –Ann Hanus, Policy Manager at Association of Oregon Counties